Taylor Smith, Sports Editor
Former Eagle Grove football star Zach Pamperin would be the first to admit that he may have been a bit of a late bloomer. Fortunately, it’s not where you start that counts.
Through hard work and a little help from the coaches he looks up to, the current Simpson College defensive lineman has been able to accomplish more than he ever thought possible.
Pamperin is a Class of 2023 graduate who started playing football in the 6th grade, but he says he didn’t realize he had a future in the sport until his final year of high school.
“I wasn’t really good early on,” he admitted. “I got in a car crash when I was a sophomore. Going into my junior year, I didn’t have much of an offseason. I broke my pelvis, fractured my neck, punctured my lung, and had structural brain damage.”
After overcoming that life threatening accident and miraculously returning to the football field to perform at an All-District level in his senior season, Zach’s coach advised him that he should seriously consider the possibility of competing at the next level.
“It was great having Coach Willard,” Pamperin remembered. “He was like, “hey, here are the numbers, here are the coaches on the different teams.” He would get in contact and have them visit sometimes. He made the process go ten times smoother.”
From there, Pamperin kicked off his college football career at Briar Cliff in Sioux City.
“It’s a whole different thing in college,” he said. “There’s lifting five days a week. Practices go over two hours and you’re writing down in notebooks, studying, and watching film.”
After a year and a half at Briar Cliff, Pamperin transferred to Simpson College in Indianola. The physical education major hopes to get more playing time with the Simpson Storm this upcoming season and said his first visit to the school “just felt like home.”
Regardless of what happens next, Zach says he’s just thankful for the opportunities the sport has afforded him so far.
“Without football, I wouldn’t have gotten close to the coaching staff,” he confided. “Those guys had a huge impact on me growing up in Eagle Grove. If you work hard every day, I promise you’ll go ten times farther.”
